Having trouble breathing? Early diagnosis gives the best options for recovery

On Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, the San Antonio Express-News published the following commentary submitted by Dr. Holly Keyt, medical director for University Health Transplant Institute and associate professor of medicine at UT Health San Antonio. You can also view this article on the newspaper website. 

Most people give little thought to how our lungs allow us to take more than 23,000 breaths per day. Breathing just happens – unless there’s a problem.

As a pulmonologist, the medical director for lung transplant at the University Health Transplant Institute and associate professor of medicine at UT Health San Antonio, I’ve treated many types of serious lung diseases: young people with severe, life-threatening asthma; emphysema patients so frail they cannot walk across the room; people with COPD who must be connected to oxygen tanks just to function, and patients with such badly scarred lungs they need a transplant to survive.

Sadly, some of the sickest patients have become so weak they are no longer candidates for a lung transplant, the only remaining treatment that can restore some quality of life.

Treatments for lung disease diagnosed early

Recently, as we performed our 800th lung transplant at University Health, I thought about the many options available for these patients if they just receive care early. And that’s the primary message I want to send: While severe respiratory conditions are often heartbreaking, they aren’t hopeless if you are diagnosed and properly treated before your condition worsens. Medical research has led to many effective, new medications that can restore quality of life and give patients many more years with their families.

I started my career working with cystic fibrosis patients and have seen how research has dramatically changed their lives. CF, as it is known, is an inherited disease that makes it difficult to breathe and often leads to infections, inflammation and respiratory failure. For a long time most people with CF didn’t reach adulthood, but in the past decade new drugs have dramatically increased the average life expectancy to more than 50 years. Passionate researchers and providers have developed medications that modify the effects of the disease and they continue searching for the ultimate cure.

I have embraced that spirit of hope in medical advancements as I counsel and treat our most severely ill respiratory patients at University Health. We first look at conservative therapies including medications, lifestyle changes or breathing exercises. With University Health’s academic research partners at UT Health San Antonio, we consider the most advanced, cutting-edge treatments. We engage our nationally recognized lung and respiratory care team which includes pulmonologists, surgeons, nurse coordinators, social workers, dieticians and pharmacists.

When we consider a lung transplant

If those therapies and our collective skills aren’t enough, we carefully explore whether a lung transplant is the best option for restoring health and extending the patient’s life.

Lung transplantation is a serious surgery that affects the whole body so our team provides holistic care to meet the emotional, physical, rehabilitation and multidisciplinary needs of our patients. We performed our first lung transplant in 1987 and are one of the oldest lung transplant programs in the country. While we are proud of the many ways we have pioneered transplantation surgeries, we are most proud of always making the recovery of our patients the top priority.

That brings me back to recognizing the first signs of lung disease and promptly reaching out for help. If you are short of breath after exercising just a little, have a nagging cough that won’t go away, or an unexplained chest pain that lingers, talk with your health care provider and ask about seeing a lung specialist.

We may be able to treat your condition with medication. If that’s not an option, we’ll consider you for a lung transplant. Either way, the sooner we can provide care the more options you will have for a successful recovery.

Dr. Holly Keyt is a pulmonologist, and medical director for the lung transplant program at University Health Transplant Institute. She is also associate professor of medicine at UT Health San Antonio and associate director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program at University Health and UT Health San Antonio.